3 ‘ Bere tly mene 
climate had vastly improved, although the malaria was still in the soil.* — 
Another phase of the climate was the rainfall. They had cyclones, dry seasons — 
and excessively wet ones, and floods. Then they had excessively dry seasons, 
_ occurring oftenin May, the month they relied on during which to plant the 
cane, and the result is the loss of a year. ‘Then came exceedingly wet seasons, 
which, again, had to be subdivided into exceedingly wet and exceedingly wet wet 
seasons. The second kind of season mentioned was so serious in its effects 
that the planting of cane often did not take place till the following October. 
These, of course, were exceptional seasons, but still they were not of unfrequent 
occurrence. Then came the question of blights. They were not troubled 
much with gumming in the North, although it existed. Then there was 4 
disease which might be called blighted stooling, which appeared to arise from 
an unhealthy condition of the roots. The diseased cane would send up stools 
which would never come to anything. Rust was a formidable disease, but 
fortunately of late years they had not been troubled with it. Eighteen years 
ago it had destroyed nearly all the cane on the river, the varieties in rogue 
then being the Bourbon+ and the Salangore. The planters then tried the 
Cheribon, but this was found to be a difficult cane for manufacture, and it had 
ultimately to be abandoned. Mauritius Gingham, Striped Singapore, and 
~ Rappoe were now among the standard varieties in his district. ot was their 
next trouble. When attacked by this disease the heart of the cane would turn 
yellow, and if they examined it'closely they would detect the presence of a 
‘small worm. This disease was chiefly prevalent in good seasons, and attacked 
plant, cane more than ratoons. ‘The disease was infectious, and was sv serious 
that it was compelling them to abandon some of their best varieties. It was 
_ not unlikely due to enfeebled constitution. A cane would perhaps be healthy 
enough, but when its development was forced, through theagency of a good season, 
it became a victim to the disease. The New Guinea canes had so far been proof 
against it, as had also the White Bamboo, Moore’s Purple, and Daniel Dupont. 
Among cane pests were the borer, the locust, the grasshopper, the caterpillar, 
_ the canegrub, and the waterhen. Mr. Lexy described at considerable length 
_ the destructive operations of these pests. The planters ultimately combined 
to destroy the locusts, and, digging trenches, attacked them when in their 
crawling stage, drove them into the trenches and buried them. It cost them 
about £1,050 to do this, but since then there has been no resurrection of the 
locust to any extent, although it was still there. Mloods also kept down this 
nuisance. ‘The last pest he would refer to was the grub. This uninteresting 
looking “reptile? was the product of an egg that was laid by a beetle 
commonly known as the cockchafer. It emerges from the egg in February, if 
_ conditions are favourable, say a fortnight after its mother has deposited the 
egg. If, however, conditions were not favourable, the ege would perhaps 
remain in the ground till next season, when the grub would come out. He had 
personally known four months to elapse between the time when the egg was laid 
pnd the time when the grub emerged from it. This fact made the grub pest a 
mer one to deal with. Immediately after hatching, the grub is about one- 
ae th of an ineh long, but it grows rapidly, and when full grown averages 
<a 23 inches in length. The egg having been laid at the foot of a cane 
Plant, the young grub begins to feed on the root of the cane stalk. It then 
Fepeneeen the process of destroying the roots, and finally, by working into — 
ve peak of the stalk, kills the whole cane. The unfortunate planter then had 
> Ths : chance of seeing his crop ruined about two months before crushing. 
at generally showed the first indication of grub at the end of March. 
Bt Iie Weather gets colder, and it has done its dumage, the grub turns into 
*ysalis, and lies dormant till the advent of the hot weather. It then turns 
* s 
iki a clearing and cu!tivation most districts formerly unhealthy become purified. 
Rasp ong Was abandoned as a settlement owing to the prevalence of fever and ague. 
zt ii isa health resort.—Ed. Q. dW. 
fuchina i Pon cane, which often yielded 4 tons of sugar per acre, was the first (0 
o tie rust, and Black Jaya was substituted in the South——Ed. Q.4./. 
